Abstract:
The intelligence economy—the emerging system in which machines, data centers, and grids embody and deliver intelligence into everyday life—will only thrive if we can solve its energy challenges. On the embodied side, autonomous systems such as aircraft, robots, and heavy machines demand energy densities far beyond today’s lithium-ion batteries. While animals store energy at nearly 9 kWh/kg and operate continuously by consuming new fuel, robots typically run for only a fraction of the day on batteries with less than 0.3 kWh/kg. On the infrastructure side, data centers and compute are limited by the availability of energy sources, yet the disconnected and rapidly growing electrical grids in the United States require new ways to move energy across space and time. More than 2,000 GW of generation and storage projects are currently stalled awaiting transmission interconnections. Building new power lines is costly and slow, but the nation’s transportation network could connect grids by carrying high–energy-density electrochemical fuels that are charged in regions of oversupply, shipped or piped to areas of demand, and converted back into electricity at lower cost and with greater flexibility than new transmission infrastructure.

Our research addresses both challenges with a common approach: developing electrochemically rechargeable fuels and advanced metal–air systems that use separate charging and discharging devices to unlock higher energy densities, lower costs, and leverage domestic supply chains. For robots and vehicles, we demonstrate bio-inspired designs—emulsion electrolytes that act like “artificial blood” to deliver oxygen with faster kinetics than saturated electrolytes, and mechanically rechargeable metal–air cells that mimic digestion—to extend endurance well beyond lithium-ion limits. For grid applications, we show that organosulfur-based electrochemical fuels can deliver >850 Wh/kg at relevant power densities, be recharged with >98% efficiency, and be rapidly refilled in under two minutes, enabling not only continuous machine operation but also “chemical wires” that transfer power between grids. These approaches rely on earth-abundant, low-CO2 materials and existing logistics networks, offering a scalable, sustainable path forward.

By unifying advances in robot endurance and grid connectivity under the shared framework of the intelligence economy, this talk will highlight how new electrochemical paradigms can power both the machines that embody intelligence and the infrastructure that moves it.

Biography:
James Pikul is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and serves on the Microsystems Advisory Council for DARPA. He earned his B.S. (2009), M.S. (2011), and Ph.D. (2015) in Mechanical Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a DOE Office of Science Graduate Research Fellow and Carver Fellow. Before joining Wisconsin, he was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania.

James leads a research group that develops new energy storage concepts, multifunctional materials, and soft robotic systems to power the emerging intelligence economy. His team has contributed to advances in electrochemistry and soft matter physics, demonstrating batteries with record power and energy densities, soft actuators and sensors that enhance robotic perception and mobility, and electrochemical approaches for adaptive metals, including room-temperature self- repair. These advances provide new pathways to increase the endurance, mobility, and intelligence of autonomous systems.

James is a Moore Inventor Fellow, Scialog Fellow, TMS Early Career Faculty Fellow, and has received the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award, among others.